Zayed University Middle East Film Festival (0)

Festival start: 30 April 2017      Festival end: 01 May 2017

The Zayed University Middle East Film Festival (ZUMEFF) is a Middle East wide film festival for students by students. Now in its 8th year, it showcases the best films from universities across the region. The festival screenings will be on 30 April – 1 May 2017.

Last year, the festival showed 65 films from more than 40 universities in 16 countries from the Middle East. Top prizes were determined by students and industry judges in five categories: Best of the Best, Best Narrative, Best Documentary, Best Animation and the twofour54 Emerging Filmmaker Award.

Winners are flown to Abu Dhabi to take part in a closing event attended by regional filmmakers and celebrities.

ZUMEFF is organized as a class, in which students do the marketing, film evaluations, event organization, artwork and printing, outreach, advertising and public relations.

ZUMEFF was established in 2010 as a graduation project by AlYazyah Al Falasi, Reema Majed and Faculty Director Alia Yunis, with the aim to show case of students’ films and encourage young filmmakers in the region. It is now under the supervision of Sascha Ritter.

Best of the Best
Best Animation
Best Narrative
Best Documentary

Only students can submit films!

8th Zayed University Middle East Film Festival 2017

Submission Guidelines

Participation is limited to students who are enrolled or were enrolled in the past year in an educational institution in the Middle East, including Turkey and Iran, and North Africa or students with Middle Eastern Origin who are enrolled or were enrolled in the past year in an educational institution worldwide.
Total length of each film should not exceed 30 minutes. All submitted films must be high quality copies.
Only one submission per student
You have three options to send us your film:
1) Google Drive
2) Vimeo
3) Snail Mail

To submit your film via Snail Mail you need to send us three copies of the film on DVD, labeled with filmmaker’s name, film title, educational institution, and duration via Aramex or another courier service to:

Zayed University Middle East Film Festival
Zayed University
PO Box 144534
Khalifa City
Abu Dhabi, UAE
Telephone: +9712.599.3859

Entries WILL NOT be returned. Zayed University is not responsible for any damage or loss

You have to submit a completed online entry form and your film before 31 January 2017
There is no entry fee
Video specifications

MP4, MPEG, MOV, MPG, MPEG or AVI format
Contest Deadlines

Submission deadline is 31 January 2017
The top 5 films in each category will be evaluated by industry professionals.
Screenings will be held during the two-day festival on 30 April – 1 May 2017.
An awards ceremony and screening of all finalists will be held at Zayed University in Abu Dhabi.
Copyrights

ZU does not have any copyright rights. However, the top winning films will be part of a “Best of ZUMEFF” DVD that may play at selected film festivals abroad. Winning films will get full credit in these programs.
Audience

Keep in mind there will be English-speaking judges. Therefore, Arabic films should include English subtitles.
Judging Criteria

The films will be judged based on the following criteria:

Overall effectiveness: Was the filmmaker successful in delivering a compelling, engaging message or story to the audience?
Innovation: how creative and unique was the idea of the film?
Execution: How effective and original was the cinematography, sound, lighting and the overall editing? Did these elements help in delivering the message of the film to the audience?
Prizes

Five awards will be given: Best Documentary Film, Best Narrative Film, Best Animation, Grand Prize Best of the Festival and twofour54 Best Emerging Filmmaker Award.